The following excerpts are taken from The City of Ottawa news updates.

An important Vacant Unit Tax (VUT) notice will be arriving in homeowners’ mailboxes or inboxes over the next week for each property they own. It provides information such as the roll number and access code and identifies the next steps in the process to file the required occupancy status declaration for the 2022 calendar year.

Declarations must be filed between January and March 16, 2023. Property owners must provide some basic information on the occupancy of their property, including if it is their principal residence.

It will only take a few minutes to file the online declaration at ottawa.ca/vut. To access the declaration form, you must input your roll number and access code which will be mailed in the coming days or can be found on the latest tax bill. My ServiceOttawa account holders can sign into their account and complete the declaration without needing to insert their roll number or access code.

If you have a property that was vacant for 184 or more days in 2022, you may indicate whether any of the following exemptions apply:

• Death of a registered owner

• Property owner was in a hospital or long-term care facility

• Arm’s length sale of the property

• Specific court orders prohibiting occupancy, sale, or rental of the property

• Extended renovations or construction

• Was used as a cottage rental with a valid permit for at least 100 days

If the property was vacant and does not qualify for an exemption, it may be subject to a one per cent charge of the property's current assessed value on the final 2023 property tax bill. Declarations are subject to audit to confirm their authenticity.

Homeowners will be required to file a declaration every year, between January and mid-March.
The City has declaration options for those who require accessibility-related supports or for those who do not have computer or internet access. More information will be provided in January.

Vacant Unit Tax revenues will help fund affordable housing initiatives, in accordance with the City’s Ten-Year Affordable Housing and Homeless Plan, which commits capital funding for the construction of up to 500 new affordable units annually.

Visit ottawa.ca/vut for more information.